Automatic stretch quilting machines



March 17, 1970 G LANDONI 3,500,778

AUTOMATIC STRETCH QUILTING MACHINES Filed Jan. 30, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 7

March 17, 1970 G. LANDONI Filed Jan 50, 1969 AUTOMATIC STRETCH QUILTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 DP! 7 X :5 l G, E

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United States Patent Ofifice 3,500,778 Patented Mar. 17, 1970 3,500,778 AUTOMATIC STRETCH QUILTING MACHINES Giannino Landoni, Cassano Magnago, Italy, assignor to The Gillette Company, Santa Monica, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 30, 1969, Ser. No. 795,32 Int. Cl. D05b 11/00, 27/00, 69/00 US. Cl. 112-118 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Automatic quilting machine having a plurality of needles for making bonded quilted fabrics with an underlying warp stretch fabric wherein the materials to be bonded are fed with a longitudinal motion and a transversely movable carriage supports a plurality of material feed rolls, said motions being totally independent by reason of an electromagnetic coupling interposed between means for controlling said motions and means actuating said rolls and a programming device controlling the electromagnetic coupling.

Description of the invention This invention relates to an automatic quilting machine and more particularly to an improvement in the automatic quilting machine as described and claimed in the US. patent application Ser. No. 566,826, filed by the same applicant.

The automatic quilting machine described in the aforesaid patent application is intended for making bonded quilted fabrics essentially comprised of a plain fabric bonded with an elastic fabric stretchable in warp direction, by means of quiltings according to any programmed pattern, the elastic fabric being kept under tension in warp direction so that, when the tension is released after quilting, a fabric with any desired quilting pattern and with high stretch properties is obtained. A central padding may be inserted between, and quilted together with the plain fabric and the elastic fabric.

This machine, which has been described and illustrated in detail in the aforesaid patent application, essentially comprises a carriage supporting a variety of fabric holding rolls. The carriage is transversally movable and the rolls are caused to rotate in an orthogonal direction with respect to the carriage motion. As a result of these two motions, the fabric or fabrics, which are wound on the rolls, are moved in relation to a plurality of needles, so as to obtain different stitching paths, depending on the programmed pattern.

In the machine disclosed in the aforesaid patent application, the transverse motion of the carriage is imparted by the continuous action of a motor through suitable transmission means. The winding of the fabric holding rolls, perpendicularly to the carriage motion, could be made independent from the latter by means of a programming device acting upon an electromagnetic coupling and an electromagnetic brake.

In this manner, the needles could quilt the fabric only transversally, and only when no motion was imparted to the fabric holding rolls, or diagonally, further to the transverse motion of the carriage combined with the motion of the rolls. Consequently, the said machine made it possible to quilt the fabrics longitudinally only, but over short stretches of length.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved automatic quilting machine in which the movable parts of the machine are more independent in order to make it possible to quilt the fabrics longitudinally only, over any desired stretches of length. An embodiment of this invention will now be described hereinafter with reference to the attached drawings. It is intended that this description is given by way of example and does not involve any limitation of the scope of the mventlon.

In the attached drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view (with disjoined parts) of the essential elements composing the machine described in the aforesaid patent application; and

FIG. 2. is a perspective view (with disjoined parts) of the essential elements composing the machine according to this invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, which shows some details of the machine according to the aforesaid patent application, the main driving shaft A, which is operated by a suitable motor N through appropriate transmission means 0, imparts a transverse motion to the carriage B for transverse stitching, and a longitudinal motion to the rolls C and C for lengthwise stitching.

The transverse stitching device consists of a gear-transmission comprised of a worm D and a worm-wheel D having a shaft T on which an interchangeable cam E and a programming disc F are mounted. The cam E controls the transverse motion of the carriage B through two rollers G and G and the plate H. The programming disc F effects the switching of the electromagnetic coupling X or the electromagnetic brake Y. The composition of the quilting patterns is therefore based on two directions at right angles the one in relation to the other, i.e. the rotation and the lengthwise pull W of the rolls C and C and the transverse motion W of the carriage B. If the two motions W, and W; are caused to occur at the same time, diagonal stitchings are obtained. In order to obtain only transverse stitchings, the electromagnetic coupling X is de-energized and, as a result, the winding of the rolls C and C or to say it in other words the advancement or lengthwise pull W on the fabric is locked. If, on the contrary, the electromagnetic coupling X is energized and cam E has a portion of its contour concentric with the shaft T, said cam B will not actuate-for the period of time corresponding to the rotation of said concentric portion of its contour-the transverse motion W of the carriage B, thus obtaining only a longitudinal stitching due to the lengthwise pull W caused by the winding of rolls 0, and C In this latter case, indeed, the carriage B is stationary while the fabric is caused to advance in the W direction. As one can see, it is possible to effect longitudinal stitchings, but only over stretches of length corresponding to the contour length of the cam E which is concentric to the shaft T.

The improvement according to the present invention makes it possible to obtain longitudinal stitchings of any desired length and not restricted by the contour of the cam E.

In fact, as one can see in FIG. 2, according to the present invention the shaft T is provided with an interposed coupling X in the portion comprised between the Worm-wheel D and the cam B. When the coupling X is de-energized by the programming device DP and the coupling X is contemporarily energized by the programming device DP the cam E remains stationary, while making also stationary the carriage B, whereas the rolls C and C which are operated by the motor N by means of the transmission means 0 and the shafts A and Sare caused to rotate so as to wind the fabrics and cause them to advance in the W direction, under the needles. In this manner, only longitudinal stitchings are effected for the whole period of time in which the coupling X is de-energized while the coupling X is energized.

The coupling X may be suitably combined with an electromagnetic brake Y the purpose of which is to stop the movement of the gear connected therewith when the coupling X is de-energized. In order to automate and program the energizing and de-energizing operations of the coupling X and the working of the brake Y as well, these devices are operated by means of a photoelectric cell and the programming device DP The photoelectric cell and the programming device DP may be replaced by any equivalent device which is capable of programming the desired sequence of energizing and de-energizing operations of the coupling X and the brake Y What is claimed is:

1. In an automatic quilting machine with a plurality of needles for making bonded quilted fabrics with an underlying warp stretch fabric, comprising three rolls supporting the materials to be bonded which are fed with a longitudinal motion, a transversely movable carriage supporting said three rolls, driving and transmission means for actuating said longitudinal and transverse motions, a programming device controlling said transmission means and making both said motions joint or limitedly independent, the improvement which consists in making said motions fully independent by means of an electromagnetic coupling interposed between said driving means and the transmission means actuating the transverse motion of said carriage, said electromagnetic coupling being energized and de-energized by a second programming device.

2. An improved quilting machine according to claim 1, wherein an electromagnetic brake is combined with said electromagnetic coupling and stops the motion of the gear connected therewith when said electromagnetic coupling is de-energized, said electromagnetic brake being also controlled by the second programming device.

3. An improved quilting machine according to claim 2, wherein the electromagnetic coupling and the electromagnetic brake are both mounted on the transmission shaft which causes the transverse motion of the carriage.

4. .An improved quilting machine according to claim 2, wherein the energizing and de-energizing operations of the electromagnetic coupling and the working of the electromagnetic brake are controlled by the second programming device and a photoelectric cell.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 24,305 8/1954 Shotsky 112l00 1,948,876 2/1934 Boettcher 1l2-1 17 1,993,413 3/1935 Mellon 192l44 2,218,785 10/1940 Boettcher 1121 17 2,855,879 10/1958 Manning et al. l1277 3,079,880 5/1963 Bihaly 112102 X 3,227,115 1/1966 Bono 1l220 3,385,246 5/1968 Schlegel 112118 3,348,507 10/1967 Kuhn 1l2118 3,393,654 7/1968 Barnes 11279 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,465,330 11/1966 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,500.778 Dated March 171 1970 Inventor(5) GIANNINO LANDONI It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, lines 3, 4 and 5, delete "assignor to The Gillette Company, Santa Monica, Calif., a corporation of Delaware 1 ,1

SIGNED AM SEALED Attest:

mm: 2. sum, .m.

Mati Offimr Commissioner of Patents 

